The Encampment Tigers made their way to Lingle-Ft. Laramie over the weekend for non-conference play at the Lingle-Ft. Laramie Basketball Classic. The Tigers may not have been playing for conference points, but that didn’t stop them from dominating every opponent they faced over the course of the weekend.
The boys from Encampment had a good outing over the course of the two-day tournament in Goshen County. Over the weekend, the boys took on three opponents and beat all comers by healthy point spreads. The Tigers faced off against Midwest Friday, and took on Kaycee and tournament hosts Lingle-Ft. Laramie Saturday.
The boys defeated Midwest 75-60 Friday. Saturday, they bested Kaycee 68-64 and for the weekend finale, defeated Lingle-Ft. Laramie by a resounding 41-point margin, closing out the game 84-43.
The defending champion Lady Tigers took on Midwest Friday at the tournament, defeating them by a resounding 69-14 score. The next day, Encampment took on Kaycee, beating them 56-16. The team then concluded the tournament by beating tournament hosts, Lingle-Ft. Laramie in a 55-13 game.
Clint Bromley, the head coach for the Encampment Lady Tigers, said overall he was pleased with the games played over the weekend, but the Tigers still need to work and can’t rest on their laurels; next month conference play will begin and they are still in one of the toughest conferences in the state.
“You have an outcome like that where you have three 40-point victories, you’ve got to be happy about that,” Bromley said. “When I think of it we had a few things that we need to improve on that we could work on, but for the most part they played really well.”
Encampment’s older veteran players led the way over the weekend, Bromley said. “We won the battle of the boards every single time and that’s what it’s going to take to win in the conference; we have to come out and try to control the tempo and the boards.”
Despite the quite authoritative scoring differentials between the Tigers and their opponent over the weekend, Bromley said the team must work on preventing turnovers, making better free throws and getting the team’s younger players some time on the lumber to build skills.
Competition will be fierce.
“Starting out at the beginning of the year, we’re getting into conference play and if you look at how those guys did over the weekend they had similar results,” Bromley said. “Our conference is going to be a real test and when I look at it, when we go out and play those guys, you’re playing in a state championship every night. All the teams in our conference are good.”
Working that hard for wins in the regular season ultimately benefits the team, he said, adding that the harder the team works in the regular season, the better a mentality players will develop for post-season play.
Even this early in the season, Bromley said he was pleased by the work ethic being shown by the team. Instead of resting on their laurels against non-conference competitors who are not necessarily in the same class as them, the team is playing hard, dominating their opponents and setting the pace for the rest of the game.
Moving into the regular season next month also means the team will get a chance to get more practice for their younger, greener players. “They don’t have a lot of playing time yet so we’re kind of looking forward to after break here to getting them more playing time on the court,” Bromley said. “We’re looking forward to some JV games and getting them more work.”
The Encampment Tigers next outing will be against conference and Valley rival Saratoga Jan 5, 2018, at Saratoga.
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